Blairsville Scottish Highland Games
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Sentinel photos/Jared Putnam The weight throw measures how far contestants can send a 28 or 56 lbs. stone.

Scottish Highland Games date back to 1057, when they were used as a means of improving the military. As each year goes by and the interest in the Blairsville Scottish Festival grows, so does the level of participation and caliber of competition in the athletic portion of Union County's own games.

This year a new record was set by Jess Aydlette in the Women's Sheaf Toss (10 lbs.). Aydlette hurled the sheaf over a 30 ft. high bar to establish the new mark. Other records specific to the Blairsville Games were also set this year.

The events included Open Stone (rock thrown for distance), Heavy Weight (56lb. weight thrown for distance), Light Weight (28lb. weight thrown for distance), Hammer Throw, Turning the Caber (16 and 20 feet long tapered logs weighing 110-115lbs. turned end over end), Sheaf Toss (straw enclosed in a burlap bag tossed over a bar with a pitchfork with the height of the bar sequentially raised), and Weight Toss (a 56 lb. weight thrown for height). Other competitions included the Kilted Golf Classic, and the Kilted Mile Race.

Amateur A
1st place :
2nd place :
3rd place :
Amateur B
1st place :
2nd place :
3rd place :
Master
1st place :
2nd place :
3rd place :
Women
1st place :
2nd place :
3rd place :
Name Games pts.
Josh Aydlette
Shane Sutherland
Roger Crazy Wolf
Rob Carlson
Blake Eidson
Joe Fuller
Tom Jennings
Danny Ellis
Rick Griffis
Jess Aydlette
Jocelyn Davis
N/A
18.0
21.5
22.0
16.5
28.5
30.5
18.0
21.5
28.5
9.0
15.0
0.0

Sentinel photos/Jared Putnam This kind of intensity led to victory in the tug-of-war tournament.

Contestants send telephone-pole-like logs end over end in the caber turn. Jess Aydlette set a new record in the sheaf toss. The Appalachian Community bank team celebrates a putt. The weight toss (height). The hammer throw.